CasablancaAcademy Award® WinnerExpatriate Rick Blaine, a cynical nightclub owner in Casablanca, discovers that his ex-lover Ilsa, who abandoned him years before, has arrived in Casablanca with her Resistance leader husband,... View more >

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Please Note: Reader Reviews are submitted by the readers of The BigScreen Cinema Guide and represent their own personal opinions regarding this movie, and do not represent the views of The BigScreen Cinema Guide, or any of its associated entities.

by John

Jan 25, 2000

It is hard to see this movie without having some preconcieved notion of how good it is in your mind. This movie is rated #2 on the AFI top 100 movie list. I rented it just wanting to see what the fuss was all about, and was mostly impressed. Still, my contention remains that it is hard to really appreciate a movie when it has a reputation for greatness.

Even though I was mostly aware of the plot and the film's most memorable moments, several still got to me: I got a little choked up during the dueling chorus scene, I really sympathised with Rick during his "Of all the gin joints..." scene, and the ending was fantastic.

I only wish that this movie didn't have such a reputation. I certainly would have enjoyed it more.

One of the greatest movies of all time (but I tend to put that movie behind "Citzen Kane.") "Casablanca" has a profrond influence on our movie culture.

For example if you ever heard in the movie theatre, the song "As Time Goes By" before the Warner Brothers logo appears, well that song came from that movie. "Casablanca" is one treasure of a movie. "As Time Goes By" is as powerful as the movie itself. It stirs souls and if anybody cries from hearing that song, well you're not alone.

Humpany Bogart played Rick Blaine a man who was jitted by his relationship with Ilsa Lund, played brilliantly by Ingrid Bergman in her breakthough performance. Blaine fled to the North African city of "Casablanca" where he opened a drinking establishment. The characters are memerable ranging from Sam, his trusted friend, played by Dooley Wilson to Captain Louis Renault, played by Clause Rains.

some of the best moments of the film: 1)the Warner Brothers logo and the introduction to the movie. It's a classic. 2) We saw the spinning world as the movie opened. It's 1942 and the world is at war. The people who as escaping Nazi Germany has to go though Casablanca in order to get to Lisbon and then it's freedom. The only way to do is though money or luck. Casablanca is tended by me to be puotory (half way between heaven and hell.) 3)The entrence of Ingrid Bergman as she told Sam to play "As Time Goes By" An enraged Rick told Sam not to play that song and he noticed her. 4) The Nazi singing their anthem is drowned out by the French as they sang their anthem, drowing out the Nazis. 5) A clever piece of writing by Rains who noticed gambling, just as he was given his winnings. 6) the clinax as Rick told Ilsa to leave with her husband,"We'll always have Paris," he said.

One of the most powerful moments of the movie. "Casablanca" is a movie of heartbreak and redemption. I'm lucking enough to see this classic, so I urge all of you to see this movie. There's never going to be another romantic classic like it.